MADELINE KLEIN: That kid wouldn't roll if I gave him a night with Jessica Alba.

BRASS: You're really good at making enemies, Maddy.

MADELINE KLEIN: That's why I'm unlisted, divorced and carry a gun.

BRASS: Did you take Cook back to Little Gordo's house? You know, maybe to verify his story?

MADELINE KLEIN: Yeah, I always take my secret witnesses on a bus tour of the "hood."

BRASS: You know, when Don Cook first refused to testify that he saw Alvarado come out of Little Gordo's house, you know what I did? I took him to an out-of-town diner and bought him a cup of coffee. What'd you do?

MADELINE KLEIN: I went to Little Gordo's.

(Brass nods. Maddy gets it.)

MADELINE KLEIN: Damn it. Good job, Maddy. They saw me. I can't even blame it on the booze. All they had to do was trail me back to the courthouse and watch me go into the security entrance with 18 escorted jurors. That's how they knew grand jury. Damn it!

(She sighs. Brass is quiet.)

MADELINE KLEIN: This is where you're supposed to say, "It's okay. It could happen to anyone. It's not your fault Don Cook is dead."

(He looks at her.)

MADELINE KLEIN: Like hell it isn't.

CUT TO:

[INT. CSI – HALLWAY – DAY]

(Nick turns the corner and coughs.)

HODGES: (shouts) Hey, Nick!

(Hodges is in the lab. He heads out and is holding a report.)

HODGES: You've got an artful tagger.

NICK: What?

(Hodges exits to the hallway to join Nick.)

HODGES: Don Cook's car bumper. Gangbanger blended his green with another color. Not visible to the human eye. Of course, I caught it.

NICK: You mean the GCMS caught it?

HODGES: Well, if that's a hair you want to split. Suspect used green paint with a hint of cerulean blue. Probably for impact.

(Nick coughs. Hodges turns his head away. Nick clears his throat as he leaves.)

HODGES: You know, in China people wear masks when they're sick. It's considered impolite to infect your coworkers.

NICK: (over his shoulder) Maybe you should go work in China.

HODGES: Maybe you should wear a mask.

(Hodges heads back to the lab.)

CUT TO:

[INT. JAIL – DAY]

(Warrick is at the entrance desk collecting a box of Alvarado’s things from the guard.)

WARRICK: Now, this is everything Alvarado had and was wearing when they arrested him?

(The guard hands him the box over the counter.)

WARRICK: Thank you.

(The door buzzes. The guard lets Warrick through.)

VARIOUS SHOTS

(Warrick is in a room. He pulls out a COLLARED SHIRT from the package. It’s still new, creased and has the sticker size on the front. He removes a pair of shoes and puts it on the table.)

(He turns on his portable ALS and sweeps it across the clothing. He checks the soles of the shoes, which appear to be incredibly clean. He smells it.)

GUARD RON PEN: He's been in isolation for two weeks. I could tell you everything he's got in his cell. They assigned me special.

WARRICK: Does he get any yard time?

GUARD RON PEN: Nope. I take him for hall walks. Not allowed any contact with anybody but me. Why do you need to see him?

WARRICK: Just want to rattle his cage a bit. That cool with you?

GUARD RON PEN: Good luck.

(They arrive at the cell where Emilio Alvarado is sitting on his bed and reading a book.)

GUARD RON PEN: Hey, Alvarado, get up. (shouts) Cell check!

(Alvarado’s cell door opens. Alvarado looks at Warrick. He gets up and steps out of his cell.)

VOICE: (over pa) Cell block 3 is now in lockdown. Cell block 3, now in lockdown.

(Warrick pulls the sheets off the bed and snaps a photo. He continues to look through Alvarado’s things. He snaps more photos.)

(Warrick picks up the book Alvarado was reading and he flips through it. He puts it down.)

WARRICK: So, you always clean your boots with bleach, El Matocho?

(Alvarado laughs.)

WARRICK: Something funny?

EMILIO ALVARADO: Matocho. Nonsense word. You know where this name comes from? There's a legend in Central America. This man, he woke up in a bad mood. Killed eight members of his family with a machete and then went and had breakfast. Matar. To kill. Ocho. Eight. "To kill eight." El Matocho.

(Alvarado laughs at his own cleverness. Warrick doesn’t find it funny at all.)

WARRICK: That's great. The way I see it, you're going to have lots of time to tell all kinds of great stories.

(Warrick turns and leaves.

EMILIO ALVARADO: Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

(The guard lets Alvarado back into his cell.)

(The cell door closes.)

GREG: (PRE-LAP) (v.o.) Alvarado is a suspect in three cases.

CUT TO:

[INT. CSI – LAYOUT ROOM – DAY]

(Grissom, Nick and Greg go over the case. Greg indicates a photo with “L-A-T” carved in the victim’s cheek.)

GREG: First, he allegedly kills Little Gordo.

(Greg puts a photo of Don Cool down on the table.)

GREG: Then, the only witness who could identify him is killed. And last, but certainly not least, he allegedly orders Raphael Gomez to blow up his apartment.

NICK: La Tijera is responsible for all three crimes. Tags at both scenes, and Gomez is an admitted member of the gang. According to Hodges, the tagger didn't use spray paint. He used an oil-based specialty paint.

GREG: Well, that doesn't make any sense.

GRISSOM: You got photos?

(Nick turns to get the photos. Grissom barely has time to take out his tissue when he coughs. Nick waits for Grissom to finish coughing.)

NICK: Here you go.

(Nick hands the photo to Grissom. Grissom examines the letters under a magnifying glass. It looks perfect. Too perfect.)

GRISSOM: This "L" looks like it was stenciled.

(Grissom uses a ruler and a magnifying glass to look at the photo.)

GRISSOM: Then, it looks like the tagger painted over it a second time, to make it look freehand.

NICK: What?

(Nick takes the magnifying glass and looks at the photo.)

NICK: Yeah, those ... uh ... those do look like brush strokes.

GREG: Well, gangs don't use paintbrushes.

NICK: I assumed the tags were authentic. We've been looking in the wrong direction.

CUT TO:

[EXT. O’MALLEY RESIDENCE – DAY]

(Brass and Nick are back at the O’Malley residence.)

RICHARD O’MALLEY: (shouts) Cody, come on out here. (to Brass) So, you think this gang messed with Don's car while we were having dinner?

BRASS: That's what we're here to find out.

(Cody exits the house and joins them.)

RICHARD O’MALLEY: Cody, Mr. Brass wants to talk to you.

BRASS: Hi, Cody.

NICK: Where was your son-in-law's car parked that night?

RICHARD O’MALLEY: (nods) Right over there.

(Nick heads over while Brass continues talking with Cody.)

BRAS: Okay, tell me again about the day that Don died.)

(Nick finds a line of newly painted birdhouses lined up on the low concrete wall.)

NICK: Those are nice. Did you make those?

RICHARD O’MALLEY: Yeah, a hobby of mine after I lost my job. Forced retirement. You know how it goes. Want to buy one?

CATHERINE: Has she called the number before, within the last two weeks?

ARCHIE: Monday through Friday, both weeks, she called a different disposable cell phone. That's weird.

CATHERINE: Okay. Try the text messages.

ARCHIE: Yeah.

(The computer beeps. Archie pulls up the text messages.)

ARCHIE: See the pattern?

CATHERINE: Every night around 11:00 p.m., someone texts her a number, which she then calls the next day.

CUT TO:

[INT. GRAND JURY ROOM -- NIGHT]

(Grissom and Maddy Klein talk with Marie Leahy.)

GRISSOM: How did they contact you, Miss Leahy?

MARIE LEAHY: Uh ... a few weeks ago, at a gas station near my house, this ... uh ... this woman comes up to me and ... uh ... she knows everything about Peter. That's my ... uh ... little brother in Chicago. He's only 19. Got ten years for something he didn't do. And she said they'd get him out. And they did. Guy just confessed and my brother's set to go free. (crying) Did that witness die because of me?

GRISSOM: Can you give us a description of the woman?

(Marie shakes her head.)

MARIE LEAHY: She was white ... uh ... short brown hair ... I'm sorry. I only seen her once.

CUT TO:

[INT. CSI – LAYOUT ROOM – MORNING]

(Warrick joins Nick in the layout room. Photos and other file material are spread out on the table.)

WARRICK: Alvarado gets out in the morning.

NICK: It is the morning.

WARRICK: Exactly.

(Nick sighs.)

NICK: You know, none of these people make a move without a direct order from Alvarado, especially not torching his own place.

WARRICK: What are you saying?

NICK: Well, think about it. When Marie leaked the warrant information, it had to have gone in and out through him somehow. He's the boss.

WARRICK: I don't see how; the guy's in complete isolation. They even assigned him a special hand-picked guard. Look.

(Warrick puts photos of Alvarado’s cell in front of Nick.)

WARRICK: There's no privileges in isolation.

NICK: Things still move in and out of his cell: laundry, food.

WARRICK: The only thing I saw from the outside was a book. They say he's a big reader. But I looked it over; there's nothing.

NICK: What about all the other books he's been reading?

CUT TO:

[INT. JAIL – LIBRARY – MORNING]

(Grissom puts on his gloves as he looks at the library bookshelves. Alvarado’s guard, Ron Pen, stands nearby and watches.)

GRISSOM: How does Alvarado get his books?

RON PEN: It's like a regular library. When a book's checked out, a trustee writes down the inmate's name, booking number and date. Gets checked back in the same way.

GRISSOM: I need to see every book that Alvarado checked out.

(Ron Pen opens the log and reads the book titles.)

RON PEN: What Is the What?, The Infinite Plan, and Herzog. Oh ... and The Inferno.

GRISSOM: (looking at shelf) Alphabetical by author?

RON PEN: Mm-hmm.

(Grissom goes to the shelves on the side of the room.)

GRISSOM: David Eggers.

(He finds the book What is the What and flips through it.)

GRISSOM: There's pages missing.

(Grissom looks around for the next book.)

GRISSOM: Allende.

(He finds The Infinite Plan. He flips through it and finds pages ripped out.)

GRISSOM: How many books has he read in the last 48 hours?

RON PEN: Two. (reaches for a book on the shelf) He said he didn't like this one; returned it yesterday afternoon.

(He hands Herzog to Grissom. Grissom flips through it and finds pages ripped out. He thinks about it.)

GRISSOM: Where's The Inferno?

CUT TO:

[INT. JAIL – ALVARADO’S CELL]

(Alvarado’s cell door opens and he steps out of the cell. Grissom and Ron Pen arrive just as the Discharge Guard is escorting Alvarado out.)

RON PEN: Hold up a minute.

DISCHARGE GUARD: Orders to process him out.

GRISSOM: Just hold him.

(The Discharge Guard turns Alvarado toward the cell door.)

(Grissom walks up to the open cell door, reaches inside and picks up a copy of The Divine Comedy.)

GRISSOM: This is a good book, Mr. Alvarado. Which Circle of Hell would you be in?

EMILIO ALVARADO: The Seventh, the outer one.

GRISSOM: Those who commit violence against others.

(Alvarado smiles at Grissom.)

EMILIO ALVARADO: Souls plunge into a river of boiling blood.

(The guard turns Alvarado back toward the wall. Grissom flips through the book and stops on a crinkled page. He smells it.)

GRISSOM: (to Rob Pen) Officer, do you have a lighter? No pen, no paper ... so you used what you had, huh?

(Quick flashback to: Alvarado is in his cell and puts a cup on his bunker. He opens the book to a random page and writes with a swab.)

GRISSOM: (v.o.) A book for paper, and for ink, urine.

(End flashback.)

(Grissom uses the lighter and heats up the back of the page.)

GRISSOM: Once the urine dries, the writing becomes invisible ... until it's heated, making the acid in the urine turn brown.

(Writing appears on the page.)

GRISSOM: Then you..uh..put the book back in the library, another prisoner checks it out, tears out the page, gives it to a visitor, and you get your message out. Yes?

ROB PEN: Put him back in his house.

(The Discharge Guard turns Alvarado back toward the cell. Alvarado looks at Grissom.)

EMILIO ALVARADO: Mira, usted se va a morir.

(The cell door closes on Alvarado, back in his cell.)

CUT TO:

[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY LIGHTS (STOCK) – NIGHT]

[INT. GRAND JURY ROOM]

(The book is now in an evidence bag and is open to the message: CARVE MK FOR ME SEND A PHOTO )

(Madeline Klein sits back, looks at Grissom and sighs.)

MADELINE KLEIN: Well, I was right about Alvarado: he was leaving Vegas. Otherwise, he would have killed me himself.

GRISSOM: You okay?

MADELINE KLEIN: Yeah. Guess now, I owe you one, huh?

GRISSOM: I don't keep score, Madeleine.

MADELINE KLEIN: You know what, Gilbert? You're the only man I know who's never let me down. Which means that you're either a classic enabler or my soul mate.

CUT TO:

[INT. GRISSOM’S PLACE – DAY]

(The front door opens and Grissom returns with Hank on a leash. He closes the door and puts his keys down on the table nearby. He unleashes Hank and goes to sit on the couch.)

(It’s quiet. Grissom sighs and puts his head down in his hand.)

(His phone rings. Grissom drops the leash on the table and picks up his cell. He looks at the number.)